SHILLONG, April 10: The Voice of the People party (VPP), which witnessed a mercurial rise ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, has been granted the status of “recognised state political party” by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The VPP was founded in November 2021 by Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit. The party contested 14 seats in the Meghalaya Assembly elections and won four seats.
The VPP’s elevation of status comes on a day when the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist party of India (CPI) were stripped of their coveted status while the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was accorded the status of a national party.
Incidentally, the NCP also lost its state party status in Meghalaya, Goa, and Manipur.
The NCP was formed on June 10, 1999, by Sharad Pawar, Purno Agitok Sangma, and Tariq Anwar, 20 days after they were expelled from the Congress after they objected to the party’s decision to allow Italy-born Sonia Gandhi to lead the grand old party.
Meanwhile, reacting to the ECI announcement, VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh, while talking to The Shillong Times, thanked the people of the state for “being decisive to make VPP a recognised state party”.
“This is a giant step towards making the principle of clean politics a practical and a political reality. The success of the VPP symbolises the triumph of the politics of the common people. It clearly reveals that the vast majority of people in our state still believe in principled politics which is the only politics that can bring vision and hope for Meghalaya. What people need is right leadership,” Myrboh said, while adding that the party will continue to work for the betterment of the people of the state.
“I have no doubt that the party will emerge as the strongest political force in the years to come as our politics is directly connected with the hope and aspiration of the people,” he added.
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